Six years ago, our youngest son MacNeil decided he wanted to go to Camp Eagle Ridge. A friend from middle school had talked it up. It’s a classic summer camp. Rural Wisconsin. Rustic wood cabins and bunks. Canoeing, sailing, rock climbing, archery, martial arts, crafts, music, campfires, wildlife — including a brazen bear that occasionally drops by to dumpster-dive.
One more thing: Eagle Ridge is a leadership camp. Each day, campers attend workshops to build skills and hone values: problem-solving, cooperation, motivation, responsibility, team-building.
Camp has some rules I thought would be a deal-breaker for our son. Kids must leave their cell phones, computers and Game Boys at home (too distracting). They write home, not call (builds writing skills, discourages homesickness). Parents can’t send food treats in care packages (camp provides healthy snacks in the dining hall; food in cabins attracts critters).
Despite those deprivations, our son fell in love with the place and returned each summer. But this year, Mac the Camper became Mac the Counselor. In that role, he invited mom and dad to take a six-hour drive from home and spend a long weekend in the woods.
Until now, we’d seen camp only on that end-of-session day when parents drive wistful children home. This time Mac wanted to share an insider’s look at his work, his kids, and how camp operates. He wanted us to see him teach a leadership workshop, emcee a talent show, and deejay a dance. Most of all, he wanted us to see why it means so much to him to serve as a counselor.
We, most of all, wanted to see how a son whose room has always qualified for an EPA Superfund toxic-waste cleanup grant could now be coaching his little charges to win the Eagle Ridge “clean cabin” competitions.
So what did mom, the leadership and management teacher, learn at summer camp? A lesson about the results achieved from positive cultures and creative systems. I saw kids of all kinds being goofy, having fun, and learning. I also saw them honor traditions that reinforced the kind of behavior their parents long for at home:
Dining room manners: In the dining hall, food is set out family style, ready for the the kids as they pour in. And no one touches it. Not until cool Steve the kitchen manager steps out, the raucous crowd hushes, and he describes just what he’s created for them. Not until Kelly, the camp director, asks her daily trivia question. The kids cheer the successful guesser and dig in. A flag is passed from table to table. When it arrives, it means that group can troop up to the beverage or salad bars. Warning to parents: This next part is not fiction. At meal’s end the kids all help scrape and organize the dirty dishes and deliver them to the dishwasher.
The value of legitimate praise: A couple times a day, staff and campers gather for meetings. Before talking about outings and activities, the floor is open for kudos. Any kid, any counselor, can chime in. We heard about folks who won competitions, helped a guy who got injured, taught something interesting or tried something challenging. You may think this is the sort of touchy-feeling “everyone is special” stuff that only builds a sense of entitlement in young people. I saw it reinforce good behavior.
The value of systems: Everyone at camp has chores, which are assigned in a creative way. Kids are expected to keep their cabins clean. They are inspected and ranked in that ongoing clean cabin contest. The lowest ranking cabin gets the worst task: cleaning the shower houses. Highest rank gets the day off. Other cabins get more “desirable” chores like cleaning the health center, rec hall, camp store or trash tidy on the grounds, but everybody pitches in — in teams. Mac tells us the kids have become so good at working together that most can successfully complete their assignments in less than 15 minutes.
The value of values: This isn’t a hang-the-mission-statement-on-the-wall-and-forget-it place. Counselors find ways to build the values into the fun and make it part of the conversations. Let me show you. I had my SuperVision camera handy and captured the scene as veteran counselor Chris Stromberg conducted a “levitation” exercise. Volunteers entrusted a circle of fellow campers to do what at first seemed impossible: lift them straight up into the air. The team had successfully “levitated” a few smaller campers, with Chris appearing to be doing a lot of heavy lifting. But he wasn’t. To prove it, Chris, who’s a big guy (and a math professor during the school year) stretches out on the ground, trusting that the kids will safely send him skyward:
If you’re receiving this via e-mail newsletter and have trouble viewing the video, please use the video player on the SuperVision page.
I know that real life brings lots more challenges than summer camp. I know summer camp is special because it always ends. As campers formed a big circle to say goodbye to each other, I know the tears we saw were precious, real and the sweetest sadness a kid can feel.
But I also know, as I spent 48 hours immersed in a culture of creativity, collaboration and cooperation, that leaders find ways to bring the best of these gifts to life — wherever they are.
One more thing: Eagle Ridge is a leadership camp. Each day, campers attend workshops to build skills and hone values: problem-solving, cooperation, motivation, responsibility, team-building.
Camp has some rules I thought would be a deal-breaker for our son. Kids must leave their cell phones, computers and Game Boys at home (too distracting). They write home, not call (builds writing skills, discourages homesickness). Parents can’t send food treats in care packages (camp provides healthy snacks in the dining hall; food in cabins attracts critters).
Despite those deprivations, our son fell in love with the place and returned each summer. But this year, Mac the Camper became Mac the Counselor. In that role, he invited mom and dad to take a six-hour drive from home and spend a long weekend in the woods.
Until now, we’d seen camp only on that end-of-session day when parents drive wistful children home. This time Mac wanted to share an insider’s look at his work, his kids, and how camp operates. He wanted us to see him teach a leadership workshop, emcee a talent show, and deejay a dance. Most of all, he wanted us to see why it means so much to him to serve as a counselor.
We, most of all, wanted to see how a son whose room has always qualified for an EPA Superfund toxic-waste cleanup grant could now be coaching his little charges to win the Eagle Ridge “clean cabin” competitions.
So what did mom, the leadership and management teacher, learn at summer camp? A lesson about the results achieved from positive cultures and creative systems. I saw kids of all kinds being goofy, having fun, and learning. I also saw them honor traditions that reinforced the kind of behavior their parents long for at home:
Dining room manners: In the dining hall, food is set out family style, ready for the the kids as they pour in. And no one touches it. Not until cool Steve the kitchen manager steps out, the raucous crowd hushes, and he describes just what he’s created for them. Not until Kelly, the camp director, asks her daily trivia question. The kids cheer the successful guesser and dig in. A flag is passed from table to table. When it arrives, it means that group can troop up to the beverage or salad bars. Warning to parents: This next part is not fiction. At meal’s end the kids all help scrape and organize the dirty dishes and deliver them to the dishwasher.
The value of legitimate praise: A couple times a day, staff and campers gather for meetings. Before talking about outings and activities, the floor is open for kudos. Any kid, any counselor, can chime in. We heard about folks who won competitions, helped a guy who got injured, taught something interesting or tried something challenging. You may think this is the sort of touchy-feeling “everyone is special” stuff that only builds a sense of entitlement in young people. I saw it reinforce good behavior.
The value of systems: Everyone at camp has chores, which are assigned in a creative way. Kids are expected to keep their cabins clean. They are inspected and ranked in that ongoing clean cabin contest. The lowest ranking cabin gets the worst task: cleaning the shower houses. Highest rank gets the day off. Other cabins get more “desirable” chores like cleaning the health center, rec hall, camp store or trash tidy on the grounds, but everybody pitches in — in teams. Mac tells us the kids have become so good at working together that most can successfully complete their assignments in less than 15 minutes.
The value of values: This isn’t a hang-the-mission-statement-on-the-wall-and-forget-it place. Counselors find ways to build the values into the fun and make it part of the conversations. Let me show you. I had my SuperVision camera handy and captured the scene as veteran counselor Chris Stromberg conducted a “levitation” exercise. Volunteers entrusted a circle of fellow campers to do what at first seemed impossible: lift them straight up into the air. The team had successfully “levitated” a few smaller campers, with Chris appearing to be doing a lot of heavy lifting. But he wasn’t. To prove it, Chris, who’s a big guy (and a math professor during the school year) stretches out on the ground, trusting that the kids will safely send him skyward:
If you’re receiving this via e-mail newsletter and have trouble viewing the video, please use the video player on the SuperVision page.
I know that real life brings lots more challenges than summer camp. I know summer camp is special because it always ends. As campers formed a big circle to say goodbye to each other, I know the tears we saw were precious, real and the sweetest sadness a kid can feel.
But I also know, as I spent 48 hours immersed in a culture of creativity, collaboration and cooperation, that leaders find ways to bring the best of these gifts to life — wherever they are.
It’s not summer camp, but the Poynter Leadership Academy (October 12-17) is our annual gathering-for-growth for top leaders. High-ranking and high-potential newsroom managers from around the country and the world spend a week learning how to succeed in these changing times. Nearly every Poynter faculty member is involved in the teaching, which ranges from plenaries to personal coaching, all of it custom-tailored your needs and interest. Our alums haven’t been “levitated,” but more than a few have been promoted! The application deadline is August 27.
